As I finish up issue 5 (yes there are 5 issue out http://www.beanleafpress.com/store/) I find myself having a few weeks to draw for me. It does not happen often and yet it is probably when some of best pieces in my opinion come to life.

Usually I end up in lull, a few weeks of pure misery, with no desire to create what-so-ever. A very rough and dreary feeling no doubt and one felt by other artist who spend weeks on a creative high and then slammed by the awful dull feeling of nothing. It was once explained to me that you are giving your brain and heart a moment to rest.

I believe that- you need to recharge, yet I think you can recharge and still utilize that incredible piece of machinery you have locked up inside your noggin.

For me it is the incredible power of the sketch. As I find a moment for me, I do small quick inks. More as a practice to perfect my craft than anything else. I do many subjects as well, and do not stick with just one. I pull and push myself in a manner that when I get back into the artistic madness of bean, I am ready for it, with a few new tricks up my sleeve.

I make sure that I do not in anyway start a new series, I do not want to sap energy from the story I am already working on, so for the most part my little sketches stay just that. Little sketches, ok little inks.

Plus, take the time to become inspired again. Inspiration is an incredible gift that must be found. It is not freely given, it is more like a treasure hunt, that once you find it, you hold on to it and cherish it.

My hunt for inspiration comes from many sources. Music, life around me, my children, passions of life and many times emotion. I look for ways to make the ordinary fantastic and different. I look at fotos and especially other artist. I put my ideas in books that I can go back to at a later date. It is how I am able to make the lull shorter and not burn my self out in the long run.

To claim to not be inspired, only means you are not looking to be. You are not exploring what life has to offer. You are letting a negative emotion of doubt completely control you. Maybe it’s time to shake that off and start looking to be inspired again. You never know you might just find it.

So keep drawing, keep creating and keep living
trav